April 7th, 1941 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: General Montgomery is appointed commander of 12 Corps, responsible for the defence of the south-east coast, covering Kent and Sussex.In an attempt to combat the growing losses suffered at the hands of radar equipped night fighters and AA guns the Luftwaffe simultaneously attack a number of targets stretching all the way from the southern coast to Scotland.
London: the standard rate of income tax was today raised by 1/6 to ten shillings in the pound (50%). Personal allowances and tax exemption limits are also drastically reduced. Money raised by the cuts in allowances will be treated as compulsory savings, to be repaid through Post Office savings accounts after the war. Steps to peg the cost of living have been promised.
RAF Bomber Command: 2 Group: 105 Squadron makes a night raid on Cologne and Bremerhaven. No. 18 Sqn. attacks shipping with ten aircraft, two trawlers are damaged.
GERMANY: Kiel: The heaviest RAF attack on a single target yet, involving 229 aircraft, takes place. This five-hour long raid was the 36th time that the naval base has been hit. Whitley, Wellington and Hampden bombers used 40,000 incendiaries to spread fire across the whole urban area.
Berlin: The German high command reports that British sea losses for March are 718,000 tons.
YUGOSLAVIA: The German XL Panzer Corps advancing from Bulgaria, capturing Skopje in Macedonia and advancing towards Monastir. In the north, the German 2nd Army, under General Maximillian Baron von Weichs, advances on Zagreb while the Italian 2nd Army under General Vittorio Ambrosio crosses into north-western Yugoslavia from Italy. Powerful Luftwaffe contingents are supporting the advance of the army by flying reconnaissance and by raiding enemy columns, positions and transport vehicles. As has been already reported, the fortress installations and other military targets in Belgrade have been raided repeatedly by the Luftwaffe, to devastating effect. In particular, the main railroad station in Belgrade, a pontoon bridge over the Danube River east of Belgrade, and several transport trains, have been badly hit. A multitude of large fires go on burning into the night and light the way for German ground-attack aircraft as they make their fourth attack on the fortress of Belgrade. Further, airfields, in central and southern Yugoslavia are bombed to sustained effect and bombard with aerial guns. A number of Yugoslav aircraft are destroyed on the ground.
The head of the Croatian separatist movement, Ante Pavelic, calls on Croatians to set up a separate state.
The Wehrmacht High Command announces:
Along the south-eastern front the assault is proceeding according to schedule in dogged fighting. Powerful Luftwaffe contingents have supported the advance of the army by flying reconnaissance and by raiding enemy columns, positions and transport vehicles. As has been already reported, the fortress installations and other military targets in Belgrade have been raided repeatedly by powerful formations of German combat aircraft, to devastating effect. In particular, the main railroad station in Belgrade, a pontoon bridge over the Danube east of Belgrade, and several transport trains, have been badly hit. A multitude of large fires went on burning into the night and lit up the way for German ground-attack aircraft as they made their fourth attack on the fortress of Belgrade. Further, airfields, in central and southern Yugoslavia were bombed to sustained effect and bombard with aerial guns. A number of their aircraft were destroyed on the ground.
GREECE: The German 12th Army under General Wilhelm List crosses the Greek border from Bulgaria and after hard fighting, capture the important Rupel Pass. Facing this force are four Greek divisions and about 30 miles (48 kilometres) away, the British Expeditionary Force of four British and Commonwealth divisions and a Polish brigade. Another three and a half Greek divisions are on the Metaxas Line, a system of fortifications about 100 miles (161 kilometres) long extending from the Beles mountains to the Nestos River. At 1800 hours, the III Staffel of Kampfgeschwader (Bomber Wing) (III./KG 30) equipped with Junkers Ju88s) take off from Gerbini, Sicily, to mine the approaches to Piraeus harbour. The aircraft of 7./KG 30
led by Hauptmann (Captain) Hajo Herrman carried both bombs and mines and came in to the attack at low-level. Herrman's aircraft released its bombs on the freighter SS Clan Frazer which, unbeknown to the German crew, still had 250-tons of high explosives on board. With a shattering explosion of almost nuclear proportions, the ship blew up, destroying in the holocaust 12 other ships totalling 51,569 tons, in addition to 60 light sail boats and 25 motor sailors, and making the port of Piraeus unusable for many weeks. The defences were temporarily shattered, and then one anti-aircraft gun suddenly opened fire, putting Herrman's port engine out of action. With great skill Hermann managed to land his aircraft at Rhodes which had recently fallen to the Italians. (Andy Etherington and Jack McKillop)
Personal Story for above: As a personal footnote to this point, I have talked to my uncles, and my father about their wartime experiences (they were teenagers), and both of them have related to me their memories about this night. My father, now deceased, relayed very little, except that the explosion rocked windows all over the harbour. My Uncle Nick, though, went into more detail, and I heard more from my father's brother (through his son, my cousin). The three of them (my father, his brother Parasko, and my uncle were sitting on a stone wall that night, overlooking the harbour of Piraeus, watching the air raid. They often did such things, first because it was neat to watch, and second because it was the only entertainment that they had at night. All of a sudden, one explosion (evidently hitting the "Clan Frazer') was quickly followed by another massive burst. The impact of the burst, lighting up the night sky, knocked two of them off the wall.
They said the fireball went all over the water area, and that pieces of metal (shrapnel, parts of the ship, etc.) were later found a block or two from their house (and they lived rather far from the water's edge). The next morning, the harbour was a shambles, and they went around their neighbourhood looking for cracked window panes and broken windows. They were not disappointed. Later in the war, they got to sit and watched the Allies bomb the German ships in the harbour. (Pete Margaritis)
Greece breaks diplomatic relations with Bulgaria and Hungary.
Athens:
The Greek High Command announced:
...Throughout the day bitter fighting has ensued near the Greek-Bulgarian border, especially around the Beles mountains and in the Struma valley.
BULGARIA: RAF planes bomb Sofia in retaliation for enemy raids on Belgrade.
HUNGARY: Budapest: Great Britain severs diplomatic relations with Hungary.
LIBYA: On the coast Derna is overrun in the continuing Axis advance. Inland near Mechili an armoured battle begins between the German 5th Panzer Regiment and the remnants of the British 2nd Armoured Division. As a result, the commander of the 2nd Armoured Division and much of his command surrender at Mechili.
BERMUDA: U.S. Naval Operating Base, Bermuda, is established. The aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV-4) and other ships are to be based here as the Central Atlantic Neutrality Patrol. These forces will be considerably increased by three battleships and two carriers later in April and during May and June. (John Nicholas and Jack McKillop)